Essay on Holocaust: The Holocaust and Abc-clio Ebook Collection

Through the Chamber of Death & Deceit The Holocaust (1933-1945) was an infamous period in history, which was led by Adolf Hitler and carried out by the Nazis. It started out as unfair treatment to the Jews in Germany, but over the course of time, it progressed into a movement to exterminate them completely. Innocent people were being forced into concentration camps where they were tortured, experimented on, and murdered. “[These] killing centers were streamlined, high-tech operations capable of killing and disposing of thousands upon thousands of people in a day” (Soumerai and Schulz 184). However, the two most efficient systems utilized within these centers were the gas chamber and the crematoria. From the arrival of the prisoners to the disposal of their corpses, secrecy and deceit were necessary elements which were carefully maintained. During the Holocaust, the phrase “going to the east,” though understood by German officials to be a euphemism for killing, to the Jews and their neighbors meant simply relocating to Poland to perform more hard labor. To someone ignorant of the truth, each order leading to deportation was just one more in a series of painful, but not deadly, demands (139). The Nazis created an intake system which was both simple and effective. Upon arrival to the camps by train, the Jews were “hurried from the boxcars and ordered to leave their personal belongings behind. They were then forced to stand in one of two lines, the men in one and the women in the other” (Fischel 82). It was at this time that they were evaluated in a selection process which determined who would live and who would die. “Those who appeared strong and healthy were

Burke 2 waved to one side and designated for hard labor. The others were sent to the gas chambers” (81). Additionally, any prisoner suspected to be infected with Typhus was undeniably placed in the line of those to be gassed (Baumslag 59). The prisoners were never made aware of what each line represented or of what fate awaited them, in-turn making them less likely to rebel. The task of pairing the prisoners with their appropriate lines was placed in the hands of SS (Schutzstaffel) doctors such as the nefarious Dr. Josef Mengele. Extensive measures were taken in order to deceive those who were selected for death; this aided the soldiers by reducing the resistance from prisoners. These inmates were first told that they were going to the bath houses to be bathed and deloused. “In an underground dressing room, approximately 107 feet by 25 feet by 9 feet, people were instructed to undress and leave their clothing neatly piled, and to remember where their clothes were placed so they could be retrieved after the showers” (Soumerai and Schulz 184). This method of verbal deception reassured the prisoners that they would be coming out alive, thus rendering them more likely to cooperate. The gas chambers themselves were strategically camouflaged to look like showers, outfitted with real pipes and showerheads. At times, prisoners were even handed a bar of soap as they made their way to the chamber. There were signs posted on the walls which also helped contribute to the illusion that the showers were in-fact genuine. When translated to English, the signs read “To the baths and disinfecting rooms,” “Cleanliness brings freedom!,” and “One louse can kill you” (184). Once they reached the chamber, the women and children were the first to be escorted into the guised showers, then the men. Sonderkommandos, a special unit of mostly Jewish prisoners, were often present during this process to help maintain the facade. As the prisoners were ushered into the chamber, the Sonderkommandos would say almost anything to convince their fellow inmates that no harm awaited them within. The guards would then stand

Burke 3 inside the chamber with the prisoners until the very last moment to further perpetuate the masquerade. The process of gassing the victims was fairly straightforward from a…

embarked on one of the most greatest crimes against humanity ever committed. Having espoused the nation of a racially pure (or Aryan) nation, he turned his hatred of Jews into a national policy of mass extermination through a series of death camps” (“Holocaust”). In doing so, Hitler created more destruction than ever thought possible.
Jack is charismatic and inclined to leadership with a hint of evil by his side. In the book Lord of The Flies, Jack has many fits and signs of anger. The…

The Holocaust
The holocaust was started by the Nazi group in Germany, there goal was to eradicate the Jewish race from the face of the earth. The holocaust started in 1933 and ended in 1945.This idea became a reality when Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany on January 30th of 1933. Hitler believed that the Jewish race was responsible for the poverty and poorness of Germany after First World War.
Hitler believed that the Jewish race was not human and that they should cease to exist, this…

When meeting Holocaust survivors today, we tend to learn only about their experiences during
that period. It is easy to assume that once the Holocaust was over, and survivors began rebuilding
their lives, their pain would disappear. However, as echoed in the interviews here, Holocaust
survivors had – and still experience difficulties on a day to day basis. The complexity of the
survivors lives should not and can never be understated. In the…

To comprehend The Holocaust, I think we should know that it was not an accident, it was filled with sacrifice, started with one man, and many innocent lost their lives.
The Holocaust was not an accident in history. It occurred because individuals, organizations, and governments made choices that not only legalized discrimination, but also allowed prejudice, hatred, and ultimately mass murder to occur. For example: The world outside Nazis Europe received numerous press reports in the 1930s about…

How Could the Holocaust Happen?
When learning about the holocaust you learn about the horror the Jews faced, the atrocities that occurred, and who committed the atrocities. But one aspect of the holocaust is not often explained, not for a lack of care, but because it is a question that cannot be easily answered or summed up. That question is "How could this happen?". We often portray the Nazis as typical movie villains, not just doing evil things for their own profit, but doing evil things for…

9-R
Research Paper
During the Holocaust 11 million people died, 6 million of which were Jews, but only a few in comparison rose above all, overcoming the evil and even helping others. Most of the Jews were sent to death camps and work camps. Many Jews and prisoners were moved to ghettos for “safe keeping.” The Holocaust occurred during WWII when Germany was invading Poland under the German command of Adolf Hitler. Adolf Hitler was the cause of WWII and the Holocaust because of his anger and personal…

from Poland, the Disabled, Homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, Polish civilians, Gypsies and any other communities that did not match the Nazi ideals. However the Jewish took the most persecution and deaths at the hands of the German Nazi’s.
The Holocaust refers to extermination of an estimated 6 million Jews during World War II. That was approximately 2/3 of all European Jews alive at that time. From the start of the war in 1939 the Nazi’s moved many hundreds of thousands of Jews into ghettoes. These…

Maker
Primo Levi vs. Elie Wiesel
The Holocaust was a horrific time in history; and those who survived it, will never forget it. Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi are two survivors of the Holocaust and both have made the decision to educate and write about the Holocaust. Wiesel and Levi are two different people, with different lives before the war. But, while in concentration camps they shared similar horrors. Levi and Wiesel transcribed the horror of the Holocaust into literary form with style and emotion…

Six million Jews were persecuted during the Holocaust. This is a number one cannot vision with the naked eye. Families, homes and hopes were destroyed. Not only were the lives of these people taken but so were their souls. Elie weisel remains a very relevant author, especially since Jewish history seems necessary in preventing genocide from happening again. In Night, Elie Wiesel keeps the Holocaust “alive”: as he narrates his experiences of family lost, death of his childhood and questioning of…

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